I just have the two Dead sets on disc and haven't heard the NRPS portion, but I can attest that this in fact one of the best Grateful Dead shows of all time.

I credit the audience for the quality of this show as much as I credit the band. The crowd was in a complete frenzy for both the acoustic and electric set, like a pack of ravenous wolves that could only be satisfied with a juicy steak of a performance. Accordingly, the band had little choice but to cook them a delectable filet mignon of a show.

This is in that brief '69-'70 window where Garcia's vocals are so silky that I can't even really call it singing. The word "singing" implies too much effort. He's essentially just speaking the words melodically. Silky, silky stuff.

The acoustic set is as charming as any from that year, and the electric set has deservedly carried enormous acclaim from deadheads for generations. There are some moments in that Dark Star sequence that are utterly inspired, angelic, and beautiful in their simplicity.

There were only one or two thousand there that night, but there's no way anyone walked out of there without having been turned into a lifelong fan, if they weren't already. Five decades later, hundreds of thousands have tuned in, and it lives on in Grateful Dead immortality, with it's own special spot on the top shelf, wrapped in lore and love.

Tonight I head down to see Bill Kreutzmann at this same venue, and if his shows this weekend are even a fraction as good as 6/24/70, well I'll be as happy as a seagull with a french fry. Time to pack the bags for Port Chester!

1) the show speaks for itself; the late show electric set is as fine a performance as the band ever played. Anyone giving less than 5 stars here should have their account automatically deleted. Just kidding!*

2) This is the definitive source, certainly; however, there is another one worth listening to, number 145261, which is a more recent mastering of the same wonderful Ken & Judy tape heard here. Compare for yourself.

3) It is correct that Bear didn't report to jail until July. The San Rafael shows mid month are sometimes called his "going away party." However shortly after the New Orleans bust happened at the start of the year, Bear was unable to leave California as the terms of his release were changed and it became clear he would be sent to prison. I believe the February NYC trip was his last before jail. So through mid July we have Bear tapes of Cali shows he was able to attend; but everywhere else, master soundboard reels were only recorded ad hoc. That is, if there was someone who felt like doing it, had patch access and a tape machine, and wasn't too dosed to get the job done. It is, sadly, unlikely that master soundboard recordings were made of most Port Chester shows in 1970, or for very many of the other "missing" shows of this fine and fascinating era. The one exception being the Fillmore East, where the local crew regularly made tape through their built in patch in the basement; perhaps more of those tapes will surface.

I would love to be wrong. Cap Theater 70 shows are the apex of the whole long strange trip to my ear.

* not really kidding

I just finished listening to Set 2 of this show.
Not enough has sunk in, but from what I've heard -
I can conclude this was a transformative show.
It's not enough to say that simply jamming Dark Star with four of their best songs can
qualify an immediate five star rating...it's how they did it that makes the set so special.
Altogether raw, the structure of the house they built has such deep roots.
The Dark Star isn't long and complicating, it's intentional.
Jerry speaks with such vindication...like a calypso merry-go-round...
You're on the ride, and you might as well enjoy what's going on.
I value this show with high regard.
With the amount of people consider it best, is simply here-say.
With all of the Dead, its synergy is created once you listen to the songs.
PEACE 2 ALL BEINGS ~ NICK.

I've been listening to the Grateful Dead obsessively for 44 years. And I've seriously underestimated the greatest band in the land. Holy shit, they are even better than I ever believed. And here is the proof, it cannot be denied, the power and magic on full display. I can only imagine how this impacted those beautiful dosed souls who experienced this live. Put on the headphones and be transported.

This show so well it was on the eve of my 15th birthday and we were in the first row and then all of a sudden we were on stage - what a hang for a kid

If there was ever a confused tangle of sources for a show, this is a candidate for champion. Glad to have'em, though. Thanks for the hard work.

Not much to add beyond all the superlatives posted below by so many fans. It's a truly special, powerful, awesome show. But I wanted to comment of the lack of soundboard recordings for this era. Someone below mentions Owsley being unavailable, presumably because of serving time for his (more major) bust. But he actually was out of jail for a month or so-June- ("Bear" page 134), yet still was probably not with the band on the east coast for this show, I'll speculate.
Regardless, I heard (or read) in the '70s and '80s that the reason there is a 9 or 10 month period in 1970 with mostly no soundboard tapes was NOT because the band wasn't recording the shows, but because the master tapes were stolen, or lost...or both...in late '70 or early '71. I think this was mentioned in Hank Harrison's first "Dead Book", but I can't be sure, and my copy is long gone. If anyone can confirm or dispute this with better, solid information, that would be great.
This show has an aura of timelessness about it. What a jeweled relic! Hats off to Ken and Judy Lee! We are all so indebted to you. Ken, it was really great to read your entry below!

Don't let your aversion to audience recordings hold you back. The late show in particular is some of the most transcendent music these boys ever made, and in my opinion the sound reverberating throughout the Capitol Theater only adds to the listening experience. PLAY IT LOUD

Been listening to this show forever and I'll never get tired of it. It's obvious why it was so famous back in the day – cause it's that good.

Saw a lot of Fillmore East shows and others at Port Chester betwen 69-73 but this one I keep coming back to. Well others too but always this one. I attended the late show which means I came in during the second NRPS set. The dead opened with NFA which was weird and it just got way weirder. Attics and Sugar Mag were new songs and we were getting used to them breaking new songs but to be honest we weren’t always pleased. Fans don’t often evolve as quickly as the band - at least in my case. But I stayed on the bus. We were fully aware that we had seen a show for the ages. It was getting light outside and the late June morning was a cool one I recall. Left the next day for summer camp!

one of the most amazing live recordings ever! i mean did you hear that? na man on a nice system. man i was up all last night and this and well. that was just magical. how did he uh they, do that? :) and.. nah, just wow. to the uploader, many thanks!!!!! truly grateful!

thats all i can say,after listening ,, was born a year too late starting on the bus late 71' Felt forum regret missing all these specially growing up 15 minutes from the Cap ...

I can't add much either, but my impressions. As we came out at dawn and were standing around, my head was still full of the seemingly magical soundscapes of the band, the glistening, piercing, plangent, inexhaustible, transcendent notes from Jerry's guitar, in, around, above and of the driving, bouncing, syncopated band engine, the memory of smiles and melodies from the New Riders, the sweet sounds of acoustic instruments in the era of Hendrix and Cream - and Swing Low the encore! - and the ecstatic energy of the crowd and even the pyrotechnics - everyone was smiling and energized and the world felt open and welcoming. A heartfelt thanks to the Lees. 10 stars to the Dead, the Riders and spirits in the room.

I don't know what I can really add to all the excellent previous reviews on here from the folks before me, but I will sure try. Firstly, I would like to tell all of you who actually were at this show how lucky you are! I wasn't quite born yet, so attendance was out for me. However, I have listened to this concert so many times over the years that I am quite aware of all the little (and big) things that make this such an amazing snapshot of Grateful Dead history. It's definitely one of those nights that the music played the band.

The recording of this is outstanding given that it's an audience tape from 1970. Everything is quite clear, and there's just enough of the boisterous, ravenous audience on this recording to easily bring one to the conclusion that they were a big reason for the Dead's powerful performance. Who *wouldn't* want to play their absolute best for such an appreciative and wild audience? To me, the audience is essentially a part of the performance here; they are quiet when they should be and absolutely thunderous in applause during the many lysergic peaks and quiet, often dramatic segues into things both expected and unexpected. Lucky folks, one and all.

The version of Attics during the early acoustic set has to be the finest one I have ever heard. The vocals are almost impeccably good, and you can tell the audience digs it, too: it's silent in the hall as they perform it. The rest of the early acoustic set is good: very well-played, your typical 1970 acoustic set. There's an apparently very rarely-played (so rare that Deadbase 50 missed this version in one section, I noticed) song performed by Weir called Let Me In (83968) that's interesting, too. But the nearly perfect rendition of Attics is definitely the standout for me. However the real fireworks - both literally and figuratively - are in the late show electric set.

It begins with the Dead noodling about - "tuning up" for sure - but sometimes I wonder if they did that to build excitement and anticipation. If so, it certainly worked, because by the time that the powerhouse, well-oiled percussion machine of Kreutzmann and Hart kick into the manic tom-tom intro to Not Fade Away, the atmosphere - both on the stage and off - is truly electric. I can only imagine (and I find myself doing so every time I hear this set) what it was like to be there in that hall at that moment. I wish I knew firsthand, but imagining is the best I can do, and in my imagination, I can feel that sense of, "this is going to be one of THOSE shows." And it's clear from the outset that the Dead absolutely intend to make it just that. These boys came to PLAY; like when you're watching the Stanley Cup playoffs and one team comes out and just is banging, grinding, doing all they have to do...you know they want it and will stop at nothing to get it. In this case "it" is the great unknown, those great magical places that only the Dead knew were there, and that only they could find. From the get-go this NFA is just off the charts, the energy meter simply bubbled all the way to the top and just stayed there, unstable and ready to explode at any time. Will it? I guess we'll see as we journey deeper and deeper into space. Weir plays some pretty wild rhythm guitar throughout, essentially soloing at points, and providing perfect counterpart to Garcia and Lesh's musical conversation. Eventually, around the time of the frenzied vocal call and response near the end, you hear Weir hinting at Easy Wind. Garcia and the rest of the band quickly pick up on it, and a quite flawless transition takes place. Pigpen steps to the mike and just owns it. He means business for sure, and if you're wise you'll take heed and let Pig do his thing. Again, this is another standout performance. Me and My Uncle follows, a good version, but in comparison to what precedes it and follows it, it is essentially a lull in the storm.

More tuning follows, with Garcia telling the crowd that "Mickey has to get his gongs all together, and then we're gonna do Dark Star." He says more in that charming, intelligent tone of voice he had, but that is the meat and potatoes of it. Even though it was announced that they were gonna play Dark Star, I'm sure no one - perhaps even the band themselves - could've predicted just how incredible this 3-part Dark Star would possibly be. Pigpen replies, "This is gonna suck something good." This proclamation - a joke, I'm sure - couldn't have been further from the truth, because in no time at all the band takes this first installment of the song and starts weaving threads of pure magic and joy. There's almost a sensation of Garcia building up the feel and tempo like water flowing into a dam, everything building in intensity and becoming more dense, when all of a sudden there comes a point where Phil sustains this one note that gently breaks the tension, causing the band to enter into this gentle, quiet space that suggests that Jerry is about to sing the first verse. Not so fast, though: more jamming follows, gaining more intensity again, spiraling upward, and then gliding back down again into - finally - the first verse. After the verse they play with the theme for a bit, getting quieter, and then a feedback jam follows. Throughout, you hear the guitarists and Phil (with these haunting, lovely harmonic notes) hinting at a familiar theme: it is clear that out of the ashes of this feedback jam, another version of Attics is going to rise. And when it inevitably does, I absolutely love the knowing, appreciative clapping from the crowd. Even though the song had yet to be commercially released, they knew what was coming anyway (surely from the early show rendition) and showed their respect...amazing. No wonder the Dead loved New York. This version is *almost* as good as the early show rendition; it is very close, save for a little bit of off-key vocals at one point it's just about as good as the early show version. Out of Attics, they instantly launch into Dark Star again, and this middle part of the Dark Star sandwich is the absolute best of it: Jerry's guitar playing is absolutely out of this world; he plays these stunningly beautiful leads on top of the infectious groove the band is laying down behind him. The theme is very similar to the one they played (for example) during the Dark Star on Dick's Picks Volume 2, 10/31/71. But this one is so much further out there -somewhat long - and it seems like Weir wants to keep it going (and I wish they had) but Garcia churns out the chords to a very early, and quite undeveloped as yet, version of Sugar Magnolia. The words clearly aren't finished yet, and the song structure is still in its infancy, but this version is notable for the staggered vocals during the "knew she'd have to come up soon for air" bit. Check it out! It is quite cool and I rather like it. Sugar Mag simply melts with ease back into the final, somewhat short installment of Dark Star. After Jerry sings the second verse, Phil hits those notes and you know...they all must have, from the sound of it...that St. Stephen was on its way. What follows is an absolutely ripping version. The jam before "St. Stephen will remain..." reaches a fever pitch, band and audience alike going absolutely nuts. At the finish, Garcia instantly launches into China Cat Sunflower, which contains some interesting rhythm work from Weir complimenting the always-intricate work of Jerry and Phil. During the segue between China Cat and I Know You Rider, Jerry churns out these fat, choppy chords as once again, Weir lets loose. It is during the in-between verses of Rider that the energy meter doesn't so much as burst as perhaps simply crack open and gently drip down, for while Rider is hot, the energy of the Uncle John's Band that follows is one of sweetness - a great big musical smile, if you will. The perfect way to bring things back to Earth after a set so deeply entrenched in the outer reaches of space. After a crashing finale, the band leaves the stage and we hear Joan Baez singing "Pack Up Your Sorrows" through the PA. Were the house lights on at that point, or was the band simply building up the tension yet again for the encore? This I don't know, but what is apparent is that the crowd won't let the band leave the place without one more, and who can blame them? They cheer, they clap, they hoot and howl all through the Joan Baez song (afterwards too) and eventually the Dead take the stage with some members of NRPS for a nice, mellow acoustic version of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot that sends the crowd off into the night (or was it nearer to dawn, as some report?), to digest the possibility that they may just have witnessed the best Grateful Dead show of all time. Or at least one of them, anyway. To all the various people who taped this show, I cannot thank you enough. You allowed those of us not lucky enough to be there (or not even born yet, like me) to re-live the experience any time we want. And for that, I am eternally grateful.

I was at the show with friends. We were still in high school. The concert was at the Capital but left that venue for some place in a galaxy far away.
We all came back with thee transition from Dark Star into St Stephen when the pyrotechnics brought us back to the Capital. I recently met Billy K at a book signing and mentioned some of the strange places I went with them and his response was "I went there too!"
The show let out around 5:00 am when the sun was just coming up.
Those runs in Portchester and the Filmore East with the acoustic sets followed by NRPS and the electric set were truly amazing. Life changing. It's so great to have these recordings.

I don't even know how else to put it.

The energy and the jamming from NFA until the end of the show is just off the charts.

If you are an anal retentive fan who prefers SBDs this show might not be for you, but for anyone else, it is to me, one of the all-time greats.

The first time I listened to this I really enjoyed the unfamiliar sounding Sugar Magnolia. I didn't realize it was because the song was still in it's infancy!

They seemed to really toy with it for awhile before diving in. I also like the way they do the "knew she had to come up soon for air" line here.

I was lying on my couch - straight (mental state not position, although my body was supine)listening to this show with my headphones on.

Somewhere between Not Fade Away and China Cat I saw Christ

Excellent in parts, and at least very good over all, especially if you can stand the quality of the recording. I don't think this is one of the best of 1970, but definitely a keeper nonetheless.

About a year ago, my youngest son asked me which was the greatest concert I ever attended. I named this one, but said there would be no sound board recording so likely it would not be worth the search. I was wrong. He found this one and I have been listening to it ever since.
Exactly one week after the concert, on my way home to Edmonton, Canada, my pal Dave and I stopped in Winnipeg (and later Calgary) to catch the Dead, The Band, Janis and others on the Festival Express tour. Walking through the crowd with a joint we stumbled into Jerry who joined us and a few others for a smoke. I mentioned that we had been at the Capitol Theater concert and that they were terrific. He gave me a huge smile and said something like (its been 43 years) ''that was a magical night, wasn't it?'' Damn right.

The late electric set is as good as Grateful Dead gets. That makes this the most valuable recording.
St. Stephen is over the top.

First set is average acoustic. Nice New Riders set. Second GD set is awesome. The Not Fade Away> Easy Wind is some of the best GD ever! The rest of the set is top shelf.
Good stage banter and good audience interaction.

Well, 1970 may be my favorite year for the dead, and 6/24/70 may be their greatest show of all time. Yes, this audience recording is somewhat flawed, but it does capture the amazing energy of the band and the audience. I love the occasional shreeks of joy you hear in the audience whenever Jerry pulls off another amazing musical idea. 5 stars is not enough! Thank you archive.org, for reminding me what an incredible band this was and what an incredible artist Jerry was.

Bless you Ken & Judy Lee for your wonderful recordings of these Capitol shows! As you know, Bear was occupied elsewhere starting in June 1970, so board recordings of the summer / fall 1970 are few and far between. Most of the shows only exist as audience recordings and you have allowed us to hear some of the best, especially 6/24/70 and 11/8/70. That they loved playing The Capitol is evident by the quality of the music,which thanks to you and a few others we are still privileged to hear. Thanks again!

this 42 song fest was a pivotal time for the band. look at 68 and 69 and you find electric fests of 6 or 7 songs. now comes the 70s abnd te boys repertoir exploded voila.i can only give this show 3.5stars out of 5 stars because they were in transition and not on solid ground yet.

Great sound and what an epic Dark Star - they pass on some of the spacey noodling and instead, every time it gets really stretched out they weave it all into another tune. Masterful. At the top of their game on this one.

The Dark Star "suite" is 35 minutes that needs to be on the regular listen rack.

Growing up less than five miles from there, I attended most of The Capital Theater shows over the years. They were all incredible with firsts in just about every playlist.
This was one of the exceptional ones.

One of the all time best live recording's.This show is one of the rare gems, that catches the audience interaction with the band,and each other,in a way that puts you rite in the middle of the puddle.I don't give out 5's very often.But I can smell the hot dogs cooking in the concession stand on this one,so 5 it is

Fun listening on New Year's Eve 2010-2011. This Dark Star is the best.

Though i must admit i strongly prefer 1968-69 over 1970, it's the wonderment of shows like this that make me understand why this year was so great...oh the power and the glory...

Thank-you Thank-you, Ken and Judy Lee

What is this foolish ratings system when it comes to this show ?

Olympian .

Every song , but it is the Suite of ,

DarkStar > Attics > DarkStar ( tighten up jam ) > SMags > DarkStar > StStephen

That is the Thrill Ride

Jerry Garcia played 56 songs this night , between 2 sets of electric Dead , 1 set of acoustic Dead , and a set w/ NRPS .

I would use a wish to be there .

The only word I could describe the last set.

I get a kick out of people nitpicking sound quality on early Dead shows. I'm grateful for the sound, no matter the quality. After all, the Grateful Dead on a terrible tape with a dog barking the whole time is a far better record than Dave Matthews in crystal clear HD soundboard!

This show deserves 10 stars. The sound quality of an AUD preserved 40 years later deserves 50 stars. This show, specifically this taping belongs in every Dead fan's MP3 collection.

no time to check this one out now/at work ever, prolly need to settle down with this and nothing else no distractions

set list looks amazing, everyones talking it up, sure cant wait to experience it!!!

Amazing. Listen to the whole show for a slice of time and wonderful music, but the magic bus ride begins at NFA.

The best "review" may actually be heard on the tape itself, after the killer Pigedelic Easy Wind, from a guy who is apparently at his first show and in the midst of having his face stolen.

"Oh my god ... oh yeeeah," he raves, to which his companion replies, "It's as great this time as the last time I saw 'em." The tripped-out, oh-my-godding guy: "I gotta see 'em again, man!" A moment to which I'm sure many of us can relate. And, believe me, the show for the night has barely begun. Trust the judgment of the oh-my-godding guy and get this show ...

Can't come down off this one. The acoustic set is greatly played. Then the New Riders come out and play a great set with Jerry staying on all night, what a man. Then out comes one of the best Dark Stars subduing into a nicely done Attics, especially given it hadn't even been released yet, Jerry then weaves us back into Dark Star, and you can feel Saint Stephen creeping in on you. A good China>rider of course. Not the best recording, but given the music on it, I couldn't care less. Amazing concert 40 years ago today, wish I'd been there. I love hearing the guy go "oh my god" at about 8 minutes into the first Dark Star, really helps captures the intensity of the bands playing.

DL this

I was 5 days short of my 20th birthday the night I saw this show. The tickets were a birthday present from a still very close friend.
Having surfed this website and hearing so many awesome soundboards I still get a certain comfort hearing these pristine audience shows. We were all so young and happy participating in these huge parties.
Even the Dead were having fun. They were not the rock stars they were later to become. They were approachable sympathetic guys. On more than one occasion I found myself without a ticket and by the good graces of Bobby Weir I found myself standing(dancing)behind the amps on the stage.
Listen to the interaction between the band and the audience. Everyone was just out to have a good time.
It freaks me out to think that this took place 38 years ago, but I am so grateful for the memories and the years of good times I had seeing the Dead.
This web site is a gift to both those of us that were there and want to go back to remember and to those who weren't even born yet but want a taste of what it was like.
Treasure this site.
I'm not a rating type but I'll give it a 4 for the tremendous memories and knock it down for those of you that can't stand anything less than perfection in recording. This comes close but does have a few glitches.
Added May 28, 2010- I came back for a listen to this and realized that forgot to thank Ken and Judy. While we were all having the time of our lives dancing our asses off they were tending to their tape recorder so that they could get this down. Thanks Ken and Judy!!

I'm a young dead listener, 23 years old, and this is my Holy Grail show. Words cannot describe how much I love this show and the effect it has on me. I completely lose myself in the music, it's made me shed tears, I've had an out of body experience listening to this dark star, it is beautiful, THE most amazing thing I have EVER heard, just beautiful.

This is the best Grateful Dead show of all time.. period.

My Alltime favorite Dead show.

This set still makes me laugh and cry at the same time. We were almost scared at it's power once we listened to what we had captured.
I've played this night to University Professors and watched the tears roll down their cheeks at the power and majesty of the Dead at their peak.

Jerry played EVERY set, ALL night long, laughing through the whole thing, was there ever such a man such a this?

Some personal reminiscences:

At the end of "I Don't Know You", song 22, second NRPS set,someone, Marmaduke? breaks a string, complaining about having just put them on tonight.
A fan leaning over the balcony(and my tape deck) drops his hat and starts trying to get it back.
I was startled to hear my own voice step in to get that hat back and to get the area quiet again for the rest of the show.

"Hey! Some dude dropped his hat,who found it?

"Throw it up!"

Yep, that's me using my hoarse "command tone" voice to get 'er done. My kids know that tone of voice.

Ah, the explosion at the start of Me And My Uncle, which for the night, we called "Westchester Cowboy" at 1:10 (nice one Bob), was from Boots, a guy who wandered in that night, small dude with a denim jacket that said "BOOTS PYROTECHNIC SERVICES" on the back and proceeded to take the whole theater to the far reaches of the universe with exquisidly placed fireballs.

Again, during dark star listen, you can hear the audience gasp as a giant fireball rolls off his fingers to explode Dead center in the theater.

Good times, indeed.

MAGIK!

"Shall we go, you and I while we can" at 7:14 another soft explosion and the audience can be heard laughing with delight and disbelief.
Now, to be sure, there was also a strong chemical presence at these shows. It was the times, almost mandatory. It was all good.

At 8:42 Phils drops some bombs, listen for them, you need good equipment to reproduce them, and you can hear someone saying "Oh My God!"

During the second of three Dark Stars at 5:54 another big ball of fire.

At 2:58 At the end of the third Dark Star, as we can hear St. Steven coming through the mix,
Some ecstatic fan can be heard having my face stolen:

"YEAH, YEAH, OH NO!"

At 3:54 while they sing "One man gathers what another man spills" a perfectly timed
huge fireball starts the drummers off precisely.

And we just kept rolling, the whole show, we were plugged into the mains and batteries were not an issue, every note is here, acoustic Dead, Two sets of New Riders, and then the Electric set. Judy had the keys to the attache case and was there faithfully to flip the tapes and keep the peace. Hitting the switch to light the power indicator now and again to make sure the power was still flowing to the deck. Batteries were in place, just in case of a power interupption, but I prefer 120 volts A.C.

At the end of the night, we both actually got paid for our participation and then home we went in my silver 1964 Mustang, listening to the fresh masters through the stereo or the headphone jacks I had installed around the inside of the car, driving into the dawn and home laughing at having caught lightning in a bottle.

Ken and Judy Lee

With the whole acoustic set NERPS early set late set 1 or 2 shows confusions? Also I'm not used to AUD tapes so this show kinda left me confused after 40 odd songs...

Then much later I realized that I had been walking around with a huge smile all day. Cool as the summer breeze...

We are lucky to have this.

Wow. It doesn't get much better than this. Attics is sung perfectly although the first verse is a tad rushed. (but thats being ulta picky) I love the fact Pigpen shot a pistol a few times during the Dark Star.... Thank God for this site. Listening to this with headphones is awesome. Thank you!!!

This is one of my favorite 1970 shows for so many reasons. The Acoustic Dead played beautiful renditions of Attics Of My Life, F.O.D., and Candyman! The sound quality does take away from some of this tapes glory, but the music is so good it just melts through straight to your brain! Once you get into Dark Star you will forget about any sound quality issues! Certainly a beautiful Dark Star>Attics>Dark Star>Sugar Magnolia>Dark Star! Truly KILLER! I am a late 70's guy but 1970 has been blowing my mind a lot lately! The NRPS shows are amazing with Garcia on pedal steel! This show is the goods!

I don't listen to the Dead nearly as often as I did 15 years ago, but this is one of those shows that you have to keep coming back to. In fact all I need to do is listen to the second part of Dark Star (between Attics and Sugar Mag) to remember the sheer power of the Dead when they were on.
As cool as it would be to have a high quality board of this show, the interaction between Jerry, the rest of the band, and the audience is priceless. You can literally feel it. Circa 2:30 into Dark Star Part 2: Jerry takes it up a notch, the rest follow his lead, then someone in the audience screams. Pure, raw, energy captured on a tape deck 4 decades ago. Unbelievable.

Jerry is smokin' throughout, especially during China Cat. Damn, do I miss him!

Thanx Ken, Judy, John, and Peter. Not too shabby for a 1970's audience recording. I am so happy to have it. I had the Dark Star section on cassette and upon inspection it was wicked fast. There are good show reviews below. Your ears will let you know if you want the download. But, as a Deadhead you will listen to this one, at least once. My only complaint is that there is some missing music.
Personal preference: Acoustic set disc 1, NRPS early show disc 2, NRPS late show disc 3, electric set intro>Uncle disc4, the rest fits nicely onto disc 5 as one meaty chunk. I am playing Portland Woman and Last Lonely Eagle (early show) and All I Ever Wanted (late show) on my radio show this week. Peace

Thank you, "Port Chester Resurrection Project".

My first show was FE 9-18-70.

A couple of years later I got into the tape-trading end of it. I eventually starting getting tapes labeled 11-7-70 and 11-8-70 Portchester.

The music was incredible. Especially the various stuff labeled as 11-7. Only years later was I able to get it all sorted out. Most of the incredible stuff was actually from 11-5 and 11-6.

A few years later I got a tape labeled 6-24-70. The guy was more into "good sounding" tapes, and believe or not, "had no use for it."

Another time I recall meeting someone who knew a Dead Head who was looking for the show that, according to what was written on a piece of paper, indicated Dark Star with a circuitous arrow.

I knew the show he meant.

Thank you so much for doing this work on the incredible shows from this venue. I never made it there ... just a little too young to go someplace not reached by the subway map. Maybe it's a good thing... I don't think I would've made it 'back.' :-)

Thank you so much. These shows, the June one and the Novembers, are the Holy Grails.

One more thing. Please disregard the comments of the people who claim this is not one of the best shows of 70, of June, etc.

It is.

It is one of the best Dead shows of this era, without a doubt. I don't know what those people are talking about. This show is incredible, the Dead at their best, for 1970-era.

OH, what a great show. THANK YOU Ken & Judy!!!

This show is pretty shagadelic. It's long and it takes forever to download it. But it is well worth it. I need to thank veblen, tigerbolt, and ghostofpig for the positive direction so I could extract the flac files. Big, big thanks. This is what I downloaded and all you do is open up the FLAC frontend and drag the file in and hit decode. http://sourceforge.net/project/downloading.php?groupname=flac&filename=flac-1.1.4b.exe&use_mirror=internap
Super easy. Very nice show. Especially the Dark Star-> Attics Of My Life-> Dark Star-> Sugar Magnolia-> Dark Star-> Saint Stephen-> China Cat Sunflower-> I Know You Rider, E: Uncle John's Band. That's one sweet ditty right there.

From what i remember reading, there were only two recordings done of this show, one of which was done by an usher at the show. That version is the most widely circulated. I have only had one copy throughout5 my collecting life and this is definitely the same one i have. Doesn't matter because i have always loved this show. One of the trippiest segue list i have heard (attics into...). As stated before by someone else, not the best show, not the best 1970's show, not even the best June show, but definitely nothing else like it and you can tell the fun that was happening inside the theatre that night.

enjoy this show for what it is...HISTORY!

One of the best shows of the seventies. You don't need to stream this, trust me. The sound is not pristine, nor is it horrible. It is a decent recording of one of the most incredible concerts in Dead history. That should be enough for you. Now, go! Fetch! ;-)

You will need to either download the flac plugin to play them in Winamp or convert the Flac files to wav or mp3 or Burn Cd's from them....
Flac Lossless Audio Coder

After I download the song files, they won't play!

this dark star to end of show is as good as music gets - don't worry about the aud recording, about 2 minutes into NFA you will be mesmerized

I have to say I have never been as much of a fan of this show as most other people. It's just one of those shows that looks a little better on the set list than it actually sounds. Of course, it has circulated for a long time, and I once had it on tape in the mid-'90s, but I'd have to say that there are far better shows in 1970 than this one. Go to 1/2, DP4, DP8, 11/8, 9/19, 9/18, 5/6, or even 4/24 or 5/7 for some classic 1970 Dead. Of course the Dark Star is great, but I have never much cared for the live performances of Attics and you could tell that Sugar Magnolia needed quite a bit of work before it became THE classic show closer. However, the St. Stephen>China>Rider is totally unique and worth a listen.
I'm not knocking this show, nor do I intend to, but I believe that the Dead could do better in 1970...hey, it's still better than 99% of the so-called "jam bands" out there.

It seems only the last part of this source is actually the 6-24-70 Dead show. Does anybody know where the acoustic Dead is from? It doesn't match the setlist.

Decent sound considering the source... I had the Dark Star sequence on tape but it was unlistenable. This is definitely listenable!

Thanks!

sgsega speaks for me here ..soundtrack of my life
the dead were so young back then so fresh so new
and the riders just add greatness to this magical show ..
i wish dp8 had the the riders on it

It is almost better that this is an AUD source because it just exemplifies how incredible a time everyone is having at this show. The performance is top notch, although there are a few tracks that could sound a little better.
This is the vintage Dead sound that will make you smile just because you can. The only main drawback is the confusing organization of discs, but that is easily overcome. Download immediately.

This is simply one of the greatest shows the Grateful Dead gave during 1970, and even though no soundboard is known to exist, this excellent AUD copy will make you happy nonetheless. In fact, the audience tape is a blessing in disguise - it's actually exceptionally good for a taping job from this era, and it really gives you a sense of sitting there in the hall and hearing the show as it goes down. Even better, it captures what few Dead soundboards from any era do: the excitement of audience and their reaction to the alchemy being practiced onstage.

And the audience at this Port Chester show is having the time of its life for a reason. Even though we're missing the early show electric and late show acoustic sets, and even though the early acoustic set is really somewhat ho-hum, what the taper (who was apparently a security guard at the Capitol Theatre, and therefore had the ability to set his rig up unmolested by...well, by security guards) has managed to capture in the second set is a performance as magical and as any the Dead ever gave.

The electric show found here features a totally unique setlist and SPECTACULARLY high energy by the band. "Not Fade Away" roars, stomps, burbles and choogles, and just when you're expecting it to wind down, it actually kicks UP another notch and heads straight into a razor-blade, swaggering "Easy Wind." That's the first and last time it was ever done, probably because it was a purely spur-of-the-moment inspiration.

And crazy, inspired spur-of-the-moment left turns are what this show is about. The NFA -> "Easy Wind" combo is the BEGINNING of this set, and what follows is one of the most memorable "Dark Star" of any period, which pauses midway through and wheels about into "Attics Of My Life," of all songs, before sliding gently back out again into "Dark Star," and then U-turning AGAIN into a very early version of "Sugar Magnolia" before finally gliding to back into "Dark Star." Oh, but you're not even close to done yet. Look at the setlist that follows this, and realize that everything is gloriously played, and that you're listening to it through a tape which allows you to imagine yourself actually sitting up in the balcony.

Folks, this is literally one of those concerts that justifies the time and effort you put into this group. Download it and cherish it.

The Dark Star Jam out of Attics is simply sublime GD music.

You must check out the second dark star, right before sugar magnolia, it is my favorite dead jam.

What was it about the Capitol Theatre that brought out the best in The Grateful Dead? Was it the wild New York fans who ate up everything the band offered and directed the vibe right back at them? Personally, I think it's a mixture of that and this location being an inexplicable spiritual hotspot, because almost every time the band played there they went above and beyond. This night is certainly one of *those* nights. The early show is fantastic, with a great acoustic Attics, but it's the late show that really shines. From the opening explosion of Not Fade Away, you know the band is ON. Flawlessly they segue into Easy Wind! The jam really takes flight, seconds into Dark Star they hit a gorgeous groove, and by the second installment of Dark Star they're into that Feelin' Groovy-type jam that is second to none, I have heard this thousands of times and to this day I still break out in a wide grin and get goosebumps on my arms when I hear this. It's also nice to hear the later part of this show that was never circulating until recently. What better way to end such a mind-bending show than with a perfect Swing Low, Sweet Chariot? If you haven't downloaded this, do it now! Here's hoping Ken and Judy Lee find the tape with the first portion of the late show soon!

A very Magical night with the boys. Sound quality is great, I love hearing the interactions between the crowd and the band, it gives the feel of being in the same room all over again.

anybody who knows about this show knows how severe the music gets in this gig, although i was born two weeks after the actual show ive have never gone on tour without it,this is the best way to hear the dead, i think i can stop downloading the dead now, cause it really doesnt get any better than this!

Yep, a soundboard would be great, but I love this for the way the crowd reacts to the band. Great show, I have been looking for this for ages, thank God for the Archive!

This has long been one of my holy grail shows, and I'm happy to have it all (or almost all of it). Beyind the very special music, this show is dear to me because it's my birthday show (I turned 7 on 6/24/70), one of two really good shows on 6/24 (Miami is the other).

What can I add to what's been said already about this wonderful collection of music? A soundboard would be nice, but this recording sounds great.

The text file for this recording is available here:
http://db.etree.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=23062. The sound does seem to be much better than for previous versions of this show. Early acoustic Dead, late electric Dead, and both NRPS. Missing early electric Dead and late acoustic Dead.

This is it, this is the show, this is THE ONE. After 20+ years of listening to the Dead damned near every day, I still have not found a performance that tops this night. I'm sure there must have been a lot of babies delivered in Port Chester hospitals in March '71, because the energy radiatiating from the Capitol Theatre on this night just had to infect the local populace. The audience was giving it to the band, the band was giving it right back, and untold muses and spirits were all gathered and giving everthying they had as well. You've heard the phrase "when the music plays the band?" Well, during the second part of Dark Star (after Attics) something really powerful grabbed the Dead by the scruff of their neck and BLASTED its message through them like water through a fire hose. Every song played this night is the reference standard for that piece. Attics is fully "Dark Starred" and has some wonderful moments, including a single bent note by Jerry as they approach the first verse and the delightful scream by a lady in the audience during the "When I had no wings to fly" line. The transition back into Dark Star is perfect, and the Feelin' Groovy jam that follows must be heard to be believed. This Sugar Mag - the second ever - springs effortlessly out of that jam, and its choral treatment is unique and wonderful. Then the St. Stephen: perfectly played, unbelievable energy, and the transition into the reprise is nailed to the millisecond. By this point the audience must have been melted into puddles on the floor, but the band cranks right into a rockin China > Rider which of course is note-for-note perfect and overflowing with energy. It's just all too much.

Play this show in your home, play it in your car, play it while you make love. When I die, drop this show into my casket and bury me with a smile on my face. This is the soundtrack of my life.